


Solar Flare

by Fox_155



Series: Heaven (NCT Hybrid AU) [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Chronic Illness, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Hybrids, Hybrids aren't well treated in this AU, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, Misunderstandings, Past Abuse, hinted johnten, mentions of euthansia, the ship is strictly platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 20:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18818287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: Johnny didn’t really like other Hybrids. It used to be worse, he used to downright hate them, growled and attacked without reason. It had been burnt into his head from little on that other Hybrids were bad news. His breeder had made him to fight in illegal dog fights, not to stand behind a family and look pretty.He didn’t hate others anymore. It was just lingering differences that felt unbreachable, that were between him and them.But if Mark wanted to have that cat Hybrid join their family… then Johnny wasn’t going to say no. It was simply impossible, no matter how much he usually avoided other Hybrids.





	Solar Flare

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of the people and this story isn't by any means an accurate representation of the people by whom it is inspired by.
> 
> Hello, it’s me, the person who cannot let go of her AUs and has to write spin-offs. This is a prequel to [Moon Diamond](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17644265/chapters/41606183), you don’t have to read that one to understand this, but it probably really helps. This is set about 1,5 years prior to Moon Diamond.
> 
> Solar flares take place on Sun (I know, who would have thought) and have some pretty intense effects on her surroundings. And NCT’s Full Sun is obviously Haechannie, who has some pretty big effects on his surroundings, too ~
> 
> For visual reference, these are the hair, eye, tail, and ear colours I envisioned for the two:
> 
>  
> 
> [Donghyuck, Shorthair](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4f/47/a1/4f47a1149e238318689266c5f00a65bb.jpg)  
> [ Johnny, Rottweiler](https://www.animals-digital.de/fileadmin/Bilder_und_Fotos/Hunde/Hunderassen/Rottweiler/Rottweiler-3.jpg)  
> 

#####

Johnny wished he had brought shades the moment he stepped out of the Metro station. The sun was beaming down from the sky like it wasn’t the raining season, reflecting off any shiny surface and he had to squint to protect his eyes.

They had been living in Asian countries for some years now, but he was still not used to the weather. Especially the raining season always came as a surprise, leaving him with either an umbrella in the sun or shades in the pouring showers.

Humid summer and inadequate clothing or not, Johnny enjoyed the huge, colourful cities, the food, the scents on the street, and the people that East Asia had to offer. All were better than the dusty and dirty backyards he had known in Chicago.

Only a few others had left the train at his stop and during the hot afternoon, hardly any people were out, leaving him nearly alone on the sidewalk. If only there was some shade from the buildings to the side of the street, to relief him off this stifling heat. But from the angle the sun was burning down on him, no such small mercy was granted. He didn’t want to cross the road to get to the other side, where the shadows were cast. He knew there was something there he didn’t want to walk past.

A Hybrid shop.

They were the only thing that he hated about these huge cities.

They weren’t on every corner, because not that many of them were sold as they came with quite the price tag, so he could avoid them, use the other side of the street or the parallel one. It was just too cruel to watch for him. They were in the US, too, but slowly losing popularity as people went directly to the breeders to buy and with stricter rules regarding what was allowed and what wasn’t.

It wasn’t that he had made bad experiences or anything. He had never been in one himself. As a Hybrid without papers, without a pedigree, or a breeders’ Union’s approval, he had no place in the system full of perfectly groomed pure-breds.

It was rather that he pitied those trapped in them, stuck behind big windows from where they waved at any person passing, in hopes of someone being interested in buying them.

All Johnny could do, was turn his head. Buying them wouldn’t help because it’d feed money into the system, his owners had explained that to him and their son, Mark. Johnny understood that. If there was a demand, the breeders would produce more, to make more money.

Thinking that of all places, that was the one Mark’s biology teacher had decided to take them on the pre-summer-break excursion, was quite mind-blowing to him.

Then again, most humans weren’t like his owners, like Mark and his parents.

Most didn’t see anything wrong with keeping Hybrids in tiny rooms where they were displayed like meat. To them, they were just animals. They might look like humans, with cute ears and tails, but they had been made to please them and not actually be like them, so they didn’t need to be treated like ones.

Johnny wished he had brought his tiny hand-held fan as he felt sweat trickle down his back. The heat was really something today. He pushed his fringe from his face, where it was starting to stick to his forehead, but it flopped right back down. He should get his hair cut. He didn’t like having it very short because it reminded him too much of back when his breeder and the previous owner had always shaved it off, but right now it was long enough to fall into his eyes and it just wasn’t a good look for the summer heat in South Korea.

The Middle School Mark went to came into sight and Johnny picked his pace up, ready to sit down in the shade to wait. There wasn’t even a faint breeze today, nothing to relieve him of the sticky heat. The air was still and wet, like a pond rather than a stream.

With a sigh, he dropped down into a crouch and leaned his back against the school’s fence. He could feel the pavement under him radiate off warmth. It was like the whole city was sweating.

He glanced over to the big iron gate on which the school sign hung, showing the wealth and status of both the institute and the pupils going here. A few other Hybrids were gathered there, waiting in the July heat, just like him. That, too, showed that this was a school for the kids of rich families. Only people with money could afford a dog Hybrid as a 24/7 nanny for their youngsters.

Johnny wasn’t that type of dog, the type sold with the claims that they were educated enough to give a child support with its homework and be ideal to bring to family trips on the weekend. He didn’t like to stand with them and he was quite sure they also didn’t like him to. It was better if he stayed off, Mark could walk ten steps without supervision.

Actually, Mark had insisted he was old enough to no longer need Johnny bringing and picking him up at all, but Johnny liked doing that. Call it a protective instinct, because it was, but Johnny cared a lot about Mark. Sure, he wasn’t the awkward 10-year-old that got lost because he tried to follow a butterfly anymore, but he was still a pretty awkward 15-year-old that might accidentally be pulled into organised crime because they said they had watermelon.

Johnny couldn’t allow for that to happen!

He pushed his hair back again, holding it there, out of his face, to allow the sweat on his forehead to cool. He couldn’t wait to be back home, in air conditioning. He still had a pretty hefty amount of reading to do he actually wasn’t that eager to return to, but he’d rather read about 100 different kings and their wives in Goryeo than melt into the asphalt.

Johnny heard the sound of people coming closer, loud chattering and tripping feet of children. When he looked up, there was the first wave of pupils coming from the school building.

He scrambled off the ground to stand straight but kept close to the fence. He was tall, much taller than most of the Hybrids standing over at the gate and definitely taller than the middle schoolers they were here to pick up, so he’d usually stick out. Johnny wasn’t particularly eager to. Blending in seemed much preferable, so the fence it was.

The first Hybrid-owner pair passed by him and Johnny turned to look if he could already see Mark.

It wasn’t like the other Hybrids were giving Johnny a hard time, not really. They were much too well mannered to do so. Or too scared of what he could maybe do. Rather than that, it was Johnny who avoided interaction with other Hybrids for the better part.

Nothing personal.

He just had made some very bad experiences in his past, which had taught him to stay away, and old patterns die hard. He knew he didn’t fit in with the educated and well-tempered Labrador and Golden Retrievers. He had seen them give him wary glanced before. Johnny wasn’t sure how to deal with that, so he didn’t by staying away so far that they didn’t pay him any attention anymore.

Finally, he saw the figure of his owner come closer. For some reason, he seemed to see the weather fit to run and Johnny felt himself break a new sweat from just looking.

“Johnny!” Mark waved as he came close enough, dashing down the pedestrians’ walk. A smile tugged on his lips, just from seeing the little human come towards him, and he stepped forward until Mark was close enough to be picked up and cuddled. “Hi!”

“Hey. Why are you running? Aren’t you hot?” Johnny was hot from just the hug, but he couldn’t not do it.

“Of course, I’m hot. I’m very hot, don’t you see?” Mark puffed his chicken chest out and Johnny gave him a questioning glance. “Okay, whatever.” He deflated. Johnny chuckled and ruffled the humans’ hair.

“Let’s head home, I feel like I’ll melt into a puddle any moment now.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Mark fanned himself with his shirt. “I regret running a little. But I have something I really need to tell you.”

Johnny turned his head Mark’s direction as they walked towards the Metro station, to signalise he was listening.

“So, we went to this Hybrid shop, right?”

Johnny nodded. He was very much aware of Mark’s school’s program, they had talked about it a lot over dinner.

“Well, they told us about Hybrids, it was all really… uncomfortable because they were like… you know…” he waved his hands and Johnny nodded again because he could imagine what they told them. The dumb, cute pet stories and so on. “So, I went to the restrooms and I thought I had come from the right, but I must have come from the left, anyway, the back of these stores are even huger than the front and I got so lost and ended up in the totally wrong room, where some cat Hybrids lived. I was sort of freaked out at first, but they actually… just live there. So it wasn’t inappropriate or anything.”

“Okay. Sure, they’re just normal people.” Johnny shrugged.

“Yeah, they so are! I mean, I knew that before, but I also never met a cat Hybrid so… you know.” Mark was talking quickly, similar to how he had talked when his father had had THE TALK with him a few years back. “Just so you don’t misunderstand.”

“I won’t. I know you watch porn with humans.”

“Johnny!” Mark screeched and hit his arm, face blushing bright red. Johnny pretended like he was greatly hurt, yelping and pulling away from Mark’s baby-slaps.

When Hybrids were created, the original idea had been to make humanity’s best friend, but better, which had resulted in dog Hybrids. But the market had been asking for more and the people working for the corporations that stood behind the engineering of Hybrids were all too eager to give them what they wanted in return for their money, thus creating first cat, later rabbit Hybrids.

Johnny wasn’t sure how and why they had decided that dog Hybrids were the family-friendly type, while cats and rabbits were kept for other purposes. Sexual favours and things along those lines.

Somehow, they had managed to make two whole kinds of people into this taboo and dirty secret. They were sold in the back of shops and not in the front, and kept at home, often even hidden from other family members. You rarely saw a cat, even less a bunny Hybrid on the street, some people felt like just seeing them was as scandalous as a someone walking around in nothing but lingerie, that’s how strong the stigma was. Johnny could only imagine how miserable a life like that had to be.

“I haven’t really met any cat Hybrids, either. Not talked to them at least.” he agreed, relieving Mark from his flailing in embarrassment.

Johnny didn’t really like other Hybrids. It used to be worse, he used to downright hate them. He had lived in a shelter in the US before Mark and his family had adopted him. They didn’t exist in South Korea yet, but it was essentially for Hybrids that would have become strays or put down if not for that place they could go as the last instance.

Of course, there had been cats in that shelter, too.

The reason why he hadn’t talked to any wasn’t because of the cats, oh no. It was because of himself. He had hated them with a burning passion and even attacked them without any reason – or rather without them giving him any reason.

He hadn’t known it was wrong. It had been burnt into his head from little on that other Hybrids were bad news. It was the fights in which he had been pitted against other dogs, held in dark basements, that had solidified that idea in his young mind.

After the Lees had adopted him, it had taken a year for him to slowly get over it, unlearn these patterns, and stop growling whenever another Hybrid so much as passed them. He had long overcome that reflex-like reaction by now. It was just that… Johnny hadn’t really met any Hybrid that would have wanted to become his friend. He guessed it was because he was too different. He hadn’t gotten the upbringing a regular breeder would give their Hybrids.

His breeder had made him, to fight in illegal dog fights, not to stand behind a family and look pretty. Where most dog Hybrids had inviting, friendly looks and gotten their genetics from those dogs that people associated with that perfect family picture, Johnny’s ancestors had been made to become military assets, big, bulky, their genes taken from attack dogs in an effort to make a Hybrid easier trained to become a killing machine.

He didn’t hate others anymore. It was just so many lingering differences, that felt unbreachable, that were between him and them.

“But I ended up talking with one of them and like really talking, or arguing? I don’t know. He was really, really funny. Honestly, I feel like we were instant best friends? But…” Mark bit his lip.

But he’d be sold to live the life as someone’s toy, locked away.

“I know mom and dad are going to say we can’t buy a Hybrid.”

“Yeah, you know how the system works, if we create demand…”

“I don’t want some weirdo to buy him, though.” Mark kicked a pebble. “I want to try and ask them. If that’s fine with you?”

Mark looked up at him, his round eyes big and hopeful. He had been around when Johnny had still been growling and snapping his teeth at strangers’ Hybrids, he knew that side of Johnny just as much as the other family members.

However, Johnny had worked on himself and they both knew how far he had come. That Mark put this much trust into him, to think it wouldn’t be a problem to have another Hybrid in their family, was a huge accomplishment and compliment in itself.

Now, here was the core of the problem: Johnny was at least to a small percentage a dog, and with that came that he felt extreme loyalty to his owners. It wasn’t just something they had made up to dehumanise Hybrids, it was there. But especially Mark woke not only that in him, but also strong protective instincts.

If Mark wanted to have that cat Hybrid join their family… then Johnny wasn’t going to say no. It was simply impossible, no matter how much he usually avoided other Hybrids.

 

And wouldn’t it be good to have that challenge? Johnny didn’t want to keep any of his old personality, of the aggressive, downright cruel fighting dog people had made him into. Maybe this was his chance to make a friend in another Hybrid?

“Yeah. Sounds nice.”

 

“No. Absolutely not, Mark.”

“But Mom.”

“We’re not going to feed money into a system built upon exploitation, indoctrination, and abuse.”

“But Dad.”

“Mark, I worry what they told you at that shop. Do I need to go talk to your teacher? I thought we had discussed at length how incredibly problematic the Hybrid industry is.”

“Mom, no! Okay, I hardly even listened to anything because I got lost and ended up chatting with that cat Hybrid. And I swear, it was… bam, we just clicked!”

Johnny helped himself to some more rice.

“That’s wonderful. I’m glad that you made a new friend. But we cannot just go and buy a Hybrid you had a nice conversation with, darling. Not to mention, we already have Johnny.”

Johnny felt the hand of his owner rub over his head and paused his eating to appreciate the petting.

“Right! I already asked him, he was fine with having another Hybrid in our family!”

Mark waved his chopsticks and a piece of green beans flew across the table. Johnny nodded to confirm.

His parents exchanged a look and then both turned at their son with stern expressions.

“Mark? Did you make Johnny agree with you?”

“We told you, you can’t go and push him until he says yes just because you want something.”

“I didn’t!”

“He didn’t!”

The two adults turned their heads in surprise.

“I mean. I think it could be nice?” Johnny stuttered.

Mark’s mother looked stressed, but his father seemed to already start contemplating Mark’s idea.

“If, and I’m saying if, we were to get another Hybrid, that’d mean a lot of changes. One of you would have to share their room with him. More people in the living room, more people in the bathroom, more people to discuss what film to watch, what to eat, and so on. It’s another person in the family. You have to be sure you both want that.”

“Minjun? You’re not actually considering this, I thought we were clear we weren’t supporting this!”

“But mom, I’m really sure. I can share my room, I don’t mind! There are no shelters here and… there’s more that I haven’t told you yet.” Mark blinked his eyes “He had really much trouble breathing. Like he maybe has some untreated condition! I… I’m sure people would take that as a flaw and not buy him. What, if they put him down?”

Johnny couldn’t believe how easily Mark talked even his mother into agreeing to this.

“Well…” she looked over at her husband, who looked like he had mentally already signed a sales contract.

“I mean, I guess, I understand that it’s a bad system. I was just… hoping… that we could make an exception for him. But if we can’t, I get that.” Mark pushed some beans over his plate, looking miserable.

Johnny internally shook his head over his downright manipulative pout.

There was this saying about only children, and how spoilt they were. Had Mark had a sister or brother, this discussion surely wouldn’t have been pretty much won at this point.

“Your father and I will have to talk about that some more, okay?”

 

Johnny wasn’t surprised when Haneul and Minjun announced that, if Johnny was really fine with it, they’d agree to add the cat to their family.

 

And yes, he wanted to.

 

But he was also terrified.

 

What if he accidentally hurt the cat? Or what if he snapped at him? What if the cat didn’t like him? What if, what if, what if?

                                           

 

“I don’t understand, do we need this one, too? But didn’t it say there was one package?”

Johnny snapped from the spiralling worries he had had for the last 24 hours since the announcement and looked at the list he had carefully made while he and Minjun had still been in the exhibition upstairs.

“No, there’s package A and B, but we have to be careful with the colours, there’s white, dark grey, and black-brown.”

“Ah. And we need?”

“White!”

There had been two options: a: join the IKEA party, b: join the Hybrid shop party.

Not only was Johnny’s muscle power much more needed at the furnishing shop, but he also didn’t want to go to a Hybrid shop ever, even if they were getting a new Hybrid to add to the family.

As he stacked boxes onto the cart, the worries over the new cat slowly were pushed out in favour of wondering if they bought the right sized mattress and lath floor.

In theory, the Lee family should all be experts at this. They moved often, due to the job of Haneul Lee requiring her to relocate to new offices about every year or so. And IKEA just was the easiest place to go when you had to get everything from scratch every year or so.

In reality, though, they were constantly at home and missing a package, or screws, or a whole piece of furniture everyone was so sure they had gotten but was now nowhere to be found, and the only thing they really got out of it was a ridiculously large collection of Allen keys.

 

It looked like that wouldn’t be happening today. They were only getting one bed, so it wasn’t hard, but Johnny still felt like it was a small success when they started unwrapping pieces of cheap wood to put together and there seemed to actually be everything here they needed.

Mark had pushed around his bed and desk to make space and one of his shelves had been relocated to Johnny’s room. Johnny was maybe a little particular with his belongings, but since humans didn’t have the territorial instincts, they didn’t count. The whole flat was Johnny’s territory, so if the shelf was in his or in Mark’s room didn’t make a difference in that aspect.

That would probably change and Johnny had mentally prepared himself to give up his claim over the whole place. As long as he could keep his room, he hoped it wouldn’t lead to any fighting. He really didn’t want to fight with the new Hybrid, he wanted to be friends, not to mention he didn’t want to disappoint his owners.

He knew he was putting pressure on himself, but he couldn’t help it, he just… he really wanted this to go well, he needed it to, to prove he was no longer this aggressive fighting dog he had once been, to both himself and others.

 

The frame stood by the time the lock of the door beeped, announcing the other party to have returned, too. Johnny hadn’t expected them to take this long, but then again, it was a whole person changing owners, so maybe it was good it took some time to finalise that.

“Come on, let’s finish this later, we should meet our new addition.” Minjun smiled and set down the screwdriver.

Johnny’s heart was suddenly in his throat, but he nodded.

“We’re back!” Mark yelled from the entrance hall and Johnny told himself it’d be fine. He hadn’t snapped at another Hybrid in years, he wouldn’t today, it’d be fine.

Johnny dragged himself into the living room behind Minjun, trying to appear smaller. He knew his height was intimidating to many. Maybe the new Hybrid was shy? He wanted to make a good first impression.

The cat spotted them immediately. His ears turned and he eyed them both curiously, tail swaying in interest behind himself. He was small, downright tiny, easily a head shorter than Johnny, smaller than Mark even, and his face spoke of his youth, baby fat still clinging to his cheeks. His hair was striped orange and curled around his ears.

He looked at Minjun first, then at Johnny, his green eyes attentive and taking everything in without even a hint of fear, before he came their direction.

“Hi! I’m Donghyuck.” He announced, voice a little too loud for an indoor setting, then he bowed twice in short succession and broke into a coughing fit.

Instead of any sort of annoyance or aggression, Johnny felt a wave of protectiveness roll over himself with the force of a tsunami.

“Oh dear, don’t move so quickly if that agitates you!” Haneul hurried to his side, but the cat was already getting over it and took a rattling breath that made Johnny wince.

“Ah, it’s fine, happens all the time, don’t worry about it!” his attention was already back on Johnny, who wasn’t sure what to do with that. He hadn’t expected to be eyed so thoroughly and with so much interest. Rather than that, he had expected either cold disinterest, maybe fear, or shyness.

“It’s so nice to meet you Donghyuck. I’m Minjun.” Minjun turned to him, inviting him to introduce himself, so he did, swallowing past the worry.

“I’m Johnny.”

“Wow, you really _are_ super tall!” Donghyuck gasped and marched over, right up to him. Johnny froze in place and watched that cat measure himself against his body by putting a flat hand on top of his head and making it hover against where he reached Johnny’s shoulder.

Did he have a concept of personal space?

Johnny’s first immediate reaction was to snarl at him to back off.

But he managed to suppress it and held still instead. Because honestly… this wasn’t so bad. Donghyuck seemed not to be scared of him, he hadn’t shown even a hint of hostility or arrogance, nothing.

“Look! Oh my god! I have to drink so much milk to grow tall, too!” the cat grabbed his arm and wrapped himself around it, much to Johnny’s utter bafflement. He looked at Minjun, feeling a little helpless, and found his owners all eying their interaction closely, possibly worried over a bad reaction on Johnny’s side.

But he hadn’t had one. He had just held still. That was good, right? To Johnny, that was good.

“Well, that can be arranged. How about we show you the rest of the flat?” Haneul suggested a smile on her face.

Donghyuck butted his head against Johnny’s shoulder.

“Okay.”

“I want to do it!” Mark pushed ahead. “This is the living room.” He spread his arms.

“Fascinating. Next thing you’ll tell me water is wet. Johnny-Hyung, I want ear pets!” Donghyuck had kept pushing his head against Johnny, who had not understood that cue. Mark hesitated and looked at them, but Johnny slowly brought his free hand up to push into the orange hair of the smaller and carefully stroked over it. His ears felt odd, so thin and stiff where Johnny’s own were thick and flabby.

Immediately he felt the vibrations of purring against his arm.

This… this was nice! Was this really it? Would it be so easy?

“Okay, on to the next room then,” Mark announced, shuffling towards the kitchen.

 

 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just that easy.

 

As suspected, Donghyuck did not know the meaning of the word personal space. And he also was… frankly, he was constantly seeking attention. But it was sort of cute… Johnny needed a few tries, but then the urge to snap and make the cat back up to assert dominance stopped annoying him whenever Donghyuck came up from god knew where to use him as his personal pillow.

Plus, Donghyuck didn’t only demand his ears to be scratched any time of the day, he returned the favour. Mark decided after two times that this wasn’t the lifestyle for him, but Johnny was pretty happy with the increased cuddling sessions. Not to mention, the purring was really adorable.

He respected that Johnny’s room was off-limits, which was good, so the first days were much easier than Johnny had feared them to be.

Donghyuck’s constantly rattling breath and coughing attacks were a reason to worry, though. He once ran down the hallway, which was about four metres long, and after had to gasp for air for five minutes, and it broke Johnny’s heart a little.

Minjun took him to Johnny’s usually doctor, who said it might be asthma from the symptoms, but that couldn’t be treated in Hybrids because there was no medication.

The changed make-up of their DNA meant, that many drugs didn’t work on Hybrids, neither the human ones nor those from their animal DNA part. Of course, with them having been around for a few decades, pharmaceutical companies had come up with fitting cures to many diseases, vaccines, and so on. But there were things that selective breeding and that awful practice of putting sickly young Hybrids down had minimised in them and thus not made it necessary to develop treatment for.

Asthma seemed to be among them.

“It’s fine, it’s normal for me, I don’t mind it,” Donghyuck assured them with a beam.

Summer break had arrived for Mark, so that meant they’d go to do activities together. Those the summer heat allowed them to. But it felt wrong to have Donghyuck sit on a bench and play with his new phone, that he was still figuring out because he had never had one before, instead of having him join them.

“I’m sure there has to be some Hybrid doctor in Seoul who takes special cases. Don’t doctors love finding solutions to complex problems?” Mark frowned.

 

The first time Johnny felt a small spark of annoyance, that was almost enough to be considered aggression, was when Donghyuck started using his body wash. It wasn’t like it had his name on it or anything, but Donghyuck had his own, strawberry-scented. Johnny’s had Aloe Vera, so he smelt it on him when he used it.

Surely, it was a mistake. He didn’t mean anything by it. It was silly to get worked up over it. If it was empty, he’d just start a new one, they could always repurchase it.

But… it was JOHNNY’s and Donghyuck hadn’t even asked.

 

Then, Donghyuck squeezed himself between Mark and him on the sofa during movie night. Mark had been absentmindedly been petting Johnny’s tummy, but now it was Donghyuck between them, who demanded pets.

Johnny’s throat scratched from the held-back growl. He managed to catch himself, but it had been close.

As Donghyuck nested his head onto his chest and purred loudly, Johnny felt the warmth of affection overpower his annoyance. Really, he didn’t mind Donghyuck’s antics, because he was just so cute, and radiated permanent good mood and smiles.

It was just a trained reaction he had to work against. But… it was difficult because he couldn’t just delete it from his brain, no matter how much he wished he did. The worry and fear over scaring Donghyuck, or even hurting him, became more and more prominent with every new wave of aggression he only just managed to suppress.

Johnny tried to avoid it by putting distance between him and the other Hybrid, but Donghyuck wouldn’t let him, he’d seek him out and closed any space Johnny tried to create. He both loved that and hated it at the same time because it made everything so much harder, but he was also so glad to have this little brother that, so far, had accepted him without even a second of hesitation.

 

 

Two weeks in, the search for another doctor was successful. Johnny found himself on the way to the Hybrid clinic Minjun had been recommended by a friend of a college or a friend of a co-worker, and so on. It was called Heaven, which sounded a little suspicious in Johnny’s ears, but inside it looked pretty normal, with a reception desk and a friendly woman that helped Mark fill in the form for Donghyuck.

Johnny found the red passport the cat had fascinating and kept reading it while they waited. His own was black, issued by the state of Illinois, and only held simple identification and a registration number. This one was from the British Shorthair Cat Breeders’ Union and had a family tree, yearly evaluation stamps with grades (face: A-, exterior: B, voice: A+, behaviour: F), as well as Haneul Lee newly printed into the owner field.

Donghyuck had his nose in a magazine, while Mark kept bouncing his leg nervously.

 

The doctor himself was so young Johnny thought he was a trainee or something. But no. He introduced himself as Doctor Moon and asked what the problem was. Johnny watched from the chair in the far corner, feeling ridiculously misplaced. But he couldn’t have let Mark and Donghyuck go alone! What if someone wanted to recruit them into a tourist scam?

“You’ve had it all your life?” Doctor Moon had a purple stethoscope.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know how nobody diagnosed this yet. It’s textbook asthma symptoms.” He sighed and scooted over to his desk, where a nurse was writing down what he told her. “Seulgi-sshi, can you please make a note? For this?” he pulled a thick red book from a small collection and flipped it open.

“Alright, Donghyuck. Asthma isn’t really out of the ordinary in humans, so there’s plenty of medication, but there’s none for Hybrids I’m aware of. If there is, I’ll find it in here.”

Johnny liked how this human talked to Donghyuck, rather than to Mark. His own doctor usually talked to whoever had come with him, asserting the hierarchy with him as the Hybrid on rock bottom. He liked him.

“What if there’s none?” Donghyuck dangled his legs and tail.

“Then we’ll find a human one we can make work for you. I might take a bit longer, but I’m sure we can figure it out, so you can breathe well and cough less. Maybe we can even get you to the point where you can run a little.”

“Awesome!” Donghyuck squeaked and bounced in place. The examination bed he was on made a worrisome groaning noise.

“Careful, I still need that.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Donghyuck stilled.

 

There was no medication, but they returned home with something for humans Donghyuck had to inhale. Johnny had quite good ears, so he had always heard the cat’s lungs rattle. That was almost gone now.

 

Donghyuck getting better was both a blessing and a curse because Johnny was genuinely happy for his improved health, but it also meant he had even more energy than before.

 

First, he started reading Johnny’s school books. Then, he started reading Johnny’s novels. All without asking. Each time, Johnny nearly blew up in territorial instincts and anger, but each time he managed to catch himself just in time and remember the books didn’t take harm from Donghyuck reading them, and he deserved to get an education as well.

Next, he started scooting his chair closer to Mark, or closer to Haneul, and when no one stopped dinner to pet him, he wandered around the table and sat next to Johnny, butting his head against him until he gave in. Minjun had several talks with him over table manners, but Donghyuck seemed to nod and listen eagerly while internally probably loudly singing Bohemian Rhapsody instead of taking a single word to heart.

Because that was another thing he loved to do, sing, anywhere, anytime, anything.

Then, there were his endless discussions with Mark. Mark seemed excited to argue over One Piece for hours at a time and Johnny really couldn’t be bothered to take an opposing position, something Donghyuck had little trouble with.

Johnny didn’t truly mind any of that. It was wonderful to have such an energetic and bright person around.

But at the moment, it always tested him, pushed on the limits of his self-control and ability to block out old behaviour. That made it straining.

Often, Johnny had to retreat to the quiet of his room and calm down, do some meditation and take a breath.

                                                      

 

It was like the sword of Damocles, only Donghyuck was happily using a file to work through the threat holding it up. So, one day, it dropped.

 

“Hyung! Mark said you had a photo book from New York! Can I borrow it? Pretty please?”

Donghyuck hadn’t come into Johnny’s room until now, but apparently, that was the newest border he had decided to cross. And to him, it was the final straw. Johnny was on his desk, doing the maths assignments Minjun had given him, but he snapped around towards the cat Hybrid that had flung open the door without even knocking, and pure anger flashed hot in his body.

This was HIS room. He didn’t need ANY other Hybrids in here.

A deep, loud growl ripped from his chest and he bared his teeth at the cat, who immediately froze where he had waltzed inside.

“Get out!” Johnny snarled.

Donghyuck blinked at him, eyes wide in surprise. His ears tugged backwards on his head and he backtracked, walking out just as Johnny had said, tail between his legs.

“I-I-I’m sorry.”

The second was over the threshold, Johnny’s thoughts cleared and he realised what he had just done.

The damage was done. Donghyuck turned in the door and he heard him thunder down the hall.

Johnny sat on his chair, unable to move and feeling like the worst person on the face of the earth.

What should he do? Follow Donghyuck? No, surely he now hated him and wouldn’t want to see him. What about Mark? Would he be angry with Johnny? Probably. Haneul and Minjun surely would be disappointed in him, for being so mean and not keeping his word of being nice and getting along with Donghyuck.

 

It had been some time since Johnny last cried, but as he curled up under his blanket, feeling helpless and awful, he couldn’t help it. Ugly tears wetted his sleeves as he kept trying to wipe them off.

He hadn’t meant it! He didn’t want to growl at Donghyuck, didn’t want to see him so scared, he was just a little ball of fluff and sunshine. Why did he have to have these reactions ingrained in his head?

Johnny pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes, where the cotton of his shirt helped soak up the tears running down.

 

It felt terrible.

He realised how much he liked Donghyuck and how much worse that made having hurt him.

 

Could he ever be forgiven?

 

No, that had been awful and cruel and Donghyuck surely was terrified of him now.

Johnny hated it when people were scared of him, but he had brought that upon himself.

 

Eventually, someone knocked on the door.

“Johnny? May I come in?”

It was Minjun. Meaning, he had been under his blanket for hours, long enough for him to come home from work. It should be too warm, considering he was already wearing long sleeves in the summer heat, but Johnny had cried so much he was feeling cold instead.

“Please don’t.”

Out of everyone in the family, he was the one who knew the most about Johnny. He was a therapist, someone who helped people with mental illnesses to get better. Johnny hadn’t only hated other Hybrids when he had first come. He had also been unable to stay alone and very desperate for attention, among other things. All that had gotten better with the help of him.

But now, Johnny had messed up and he’d probably be very disappointed.

“I’d like to talk to you and then there’s someone who wants to apologise.”

Johnny rubbed his face dry and sat up, combing his fingers through his hair to make himself appear more presentable.

“Okay.”

The door opened a moment later and Minjun came inside, closing it behind him.

“Oh no, you’ve been crying all afternoon, too?” he gasped and hurried over. Johnny lowered his head, feeling embarrassed. He was 19, not some baby…

He felt the bed dip when the other sat down.

“Can you tell me what happened? From your point of view?”

“I… I growled at Donghyuck and told him to leave when he came into my room. He… he looked really scared. I didn’t mean to! I just… couldn’t… I…” Johnny sniffled as his voice broke.

“So, Donghyuck came inside when he knew he shouldn’t?”

“Yeah, but.” Johnny shrugged. He couldn’t really blame Donghyuck. He’d surely just been curious. He was so cute and adventurous.

“He should respect your boundaries. He’s a little brash at times, but he’ll learn. It wasn’t right of him to barge inside when he knew he shouldn’t.”

“I overreacted, though.”

“Maybe a little. But I know you’ve been really tested by him, hm? You did amazing so far, I should have taken the time to tell you this before. No one expects everything to go smoothly from top to bottom. Mark and Donghyuck have had how many arguments already? 50? 100?”

Right, the two had started bickering pretty much from the house tour on.

“You’ve let him explore and bounce around, though that’s something you’re not used to, once wouldn’t have allowed. So you’ve already overcome plenty, have already shown that you can be a good big brother to him. A small fight won’t change that.”

“But… he’s probably scared of me now.” That was the worst, when people, other Hybrids, in particular, were scared of him. He knew it was because they saw his height, his build, his hair colour and concluded his breed: Rottweiler, an attack dog. They expected him to be dangerous, and now he had proven that to be true. It was the worst feeling when he really just wanted to make friends.

“Oh no, he’s not scared, I think it takes a lot more to scare Donghyuck. However, he is very sorry.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t lie.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Johnny felt a little better at that.

“He’s waiting in the living room because he wants to apologise. I explained to him that it’s important to respect your boundaries because of territorial instincts and he understood that.”

 

Donghyuck looked much worse than Johnny did, face red and his eyes swollen, but when Johnny came inside, he started wailing again.

“Hyung! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to annoy you! I just wanted to borrow the book! I swear! I won’t come inside again!” Donghyuck threw himself at Johnny, who managed to catch the cat and keep from falling.

“I’m sorry, too.” Johnny awkwardly held Donghyuck, who sobbed into his shirt now. Mark was on the sofa, looking like he had aged 5 years when Minjun sat down next to him, leaving Johnny to it with Donghyuck clinging to him like a koala.

“Can we still be friends?” Donghyuck whined, pressing his face into Johnny’s shoulder. He rubbed his back, hoping that’d calm him down.

“Of course we can if you still want to.”

“Y-yes, I want to be bestest friends!”

Johnny felt this warm happiness and fondness he usually felt when Mark was happy, or when they did a family trip somewhere and someone pulled him into the middle to make sure he was included in everything, despite sticking out between the short, very much human, Lees.

“I thought I was your best friend,” Mark complained from the sofa.

“You can be best, Johnny-Hyung is bestest.”

“I want to be bestest.”

“You can’t, only Hybrids can be.”

Johnny couldn’t help the sheepish happy smile on his face and Mark looked miffed until he saw how happy Johnny looked and sighed, dropping the frown.

 

It happened one more time when Donghyuck tried to steal Johnny’s towel. That time, neither of them spent hours crying. Donghyuck didn’t run away but returned the towel with an apology and Johnny immediately apologised in turn.

 

But just like the need for his personal space, Johnny slowly stopped minding when Donghyuck stole his belongings. He didn’t need to go back to his room to calm down.

Instead, he sighed and scooted to the side to make space when Donghyuck wiggled himself onto the couch between him and another person to demand petting, to then provide all the cuddles and attention the cat craved.

 

When school started again, Johnny was the one bringing Donghyuck to his weekly check-ups with Doctor Moon. Or Taeil-Hyung. He didn’t like being so stiff with a long-term patient he had explained.

 

Taeil-Hyung also had more than one nurse. But the other nurse had floppy brown ears and a tail, grinned at Johnny and asked if Donghyuck was usually this annoying, and said that he had to be a literal angel to have this much patience.

Johnny nearly asked if he was sure he was talking about him here.

But there was no other person in the room he could be addressing.

And over countless check-ups, Johnny realised that there were more Hybrids that wouldn’t immediately judge him, and his expectation to hear nasty remarks was quite misplaced.

Through that, he made his second Hybrid friend. Then, over play dates and shared lunches, he made another, and another, and another.

With Donghyuck being the epitome of demanding and shameless, it had completely desensitised Johnny to the point where the thought to snap at any of them didn’t even cross his mind.

 

 

 

“Taeil-Hyung’s got a new Hybrid. His name’s Ten! Isn’t that a really funny name?” a piece of crab flew over the table. Johnny sighed and held a napkin to Donghyuck’s mouth to keep from more food flying.

“Don’t make fun of his name, Hyuckie, that’s not nice, he probably likes it.”

“Oh. Right. Oops. Anyway, I want to meet him. Taeil-Hyung asked me if I could lend him some English books.”

“Alright.”

“He’s still in quarantine, though.”

“Well, then you’ll have to wait.”

“Riiight.”

 

Donghyuck didn’t wait.

 

He found himself kicked out of quarantine by a furious Jaehyun, who told him he hoped he’d get at least a rash or something from breaking their quarantine.

 

Donghyuck didn’t get anything.

Johnny didn’t know if he had actually joined organised crime at some point because there was no door that kept him out – or in. A skill he really wondered where the cat had picked up from.

 

After the first time, Donghyuck explained at length that Ten had the super prettiest voice and really pretty hair, too, and said he’d read all the books he brought him. Johnny wondered if the poor guy was maybe a little overwhelmed and had just said so to appease the cat, but after the second quarantine-breach, Donghyuck returned with gleaming eyes and explained at he actually had read the books, plus there was also a dog Hybrid who was now his new friend.

Johnny nodded as Donghyuck built his own nest on his bed. He usually did that, did it in his own bed, too. Whenever he invaded Johnny’s room, he’d redecorate something. Johnny didn’t think his sense of style was that terrible, but Donghyuck and Mark both disagreed.

It hadn’t been very long since Donghyuck had stopped knocking, but when he first had, Johnny realised he no longer cared at all, and he had never gone back to doing so after.

“You should meet him, too, Hyung! He speaks English! It’s perfect!”

“Ah. I see. I’m sure I’ll meet him. Once he’s out of quarantine.”

“Yeah, yeah, but that’s still I don’t know… forever away! I’m sure you’d like him! Did I mention he’s really pretty?” Johnny turned in his chair and squinted at Donghyuck.

“Are you trying to set me up?”

“What? No! Not at all!” Donghyuck grinned.

Johnny got off his chair and stalked towards the bed, where Donghyuck started giggling hysterically.

“You don’t even have a relationship yourself, so keep your nose out of other peoples’ love lives.”

“What love life?” Johnny started tickling the cat, who laughed louder and tried to squirm away. Johnny let him go after a few seconds and pushed him aside to flop himself down next to him.

Donghyuck curled into his side and butted his head against his arm, Johnny followed the silent demand and started scratching behind his ears.

“I’m just saying. You watch so many sappy romances, but you’ve been single forever.”

“It’s fine. The right person will come when you least expect it. Goes for you, too, by the way.”

“See? You’re so romantic, you need someone to fulfil all these cheesy ideas with.”

“Yeah, maybe that’d be nice. But I wouldn’t put the duty to find that person into your hands.”

“The audacity. I am hurt! I am deeply hurt! Wasn’t it me, who got Mark his girlfriend by writing his love letters for him?”

“Yes, it was. Their relationship lasted for 2 weeks. I don’t think your quota is that amazing.”

“I… that… you… okay, listen, that was due to Mark thinking that taking her to see Batman v Superman would be a great idea as a date! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?”

“Okay, it might have been his own fault.”

“Thank you!”

 

Johnny wasn’t even surprised when Seulgi told him to please come and pick up Donghyuck at the quarantine hallways’ door because he had fled there rather than go back to the waiting area after his check-up.

“I would tell you I’m sorry and it won’t happen again, but…” Johnny shrugged.

“I know. It’s not like anyone has him under control, not even you. There are no critical patients in there, luckily, so it should be fine.”

The whole inside of the office was white, which was really not that happy a colour in Johnny’s head. White and black, they both were so sterile to him. He preferred things to be colourful, he didn’t understand why people liked them so much, but maybe he had just not yet gotten a good explanation why you were to like black or white.

He heard voices filter through the door, one of them was Donghyuck whining and the other was Yuta, Johnny’s official second Hybrid friend. Apparently the one on Donghyuck-catching duty today.

The door opened and Donghyuck immediately darted out, complaining how he just wanted to make conversation, but Johnny wasn’t paying him much attention, because next to Donghyuck, and, worse, carrying his books like he couldn’t do it himself, was who had to be Ten.

He was short. To Johnny many people were, but he was really short. His hair was light and bled into a dark brown, almost black, colour around his ears, which also were dark, as was the very front of his fringe. Though it was too long, clearly hadn’t been cut in a while, it looked ridiculously pretty.

The cat looked at Johnny only for a second, before turning his eyes down and avoiding his glance, but his eyes were striking, bright blue.

Johnny felt his heart skip a beat.

Then, his attention was brought back to Donghyuck, who had finished complaining and rubbed himself against Johnny to seek attention. Johnny sighed and gently chided Donghyuck, knowing fully well he was internally singing Bohemian Rhapsody and not listening at all.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this short little story about Johnny and Donghyuck (plus Mark and Ten, I had to sneak him in there). If you’re curious to read more Johnten, maybe check out Moon Diamond ~
> 
> Mark’s parents’ names aren’t public and they absolutely deserve their privacy, but for the sake of the story, I gave them the name Minjun and Haneul in this.
> 
> Thank you for reading <3 
> 
>  
> 
> [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


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